Senior/Staff/Principal Backend Engineer, Platform & Data Ingestion San Francisco, California, U[...]

Verana Health Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 236,000; Full time

Job summary

Verana Health is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to own high-volume data ingestion and OpenSearch-backed search within the Oncology Platform. You will transform unstructured clinical text into scalable data models and collaborate across Core Engineering and Data Ingestion teams.

You'll design robust microservices, ETL pipelines, and RESTful APIs, while mentoring peers and applying AI-assisted tooling to automate repetitive tasks. Located near our Bay Area or NYC hubs preferred.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of API/microservices experience.
• OpenSearch/Elasticsearch experience.
• OCR/document parsing or NLP experience.
• Strong SQL and data modeling skills.
• Experience with distributed architectures and cloud (AWS/GCP).
• Proficiency in Scala/Elixir or Java/C++ is a plus.
• Strong communication and cross-team collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Build and optimize high-volume data ingestion pipelines.
• Own indexing, querying, and tuning of OpenSearch.
• Implement OCR processing workflows to transform unstructured data.
• Grow oncology data model via microservices and quality checks.
• Leverage AI tools to automate boilerplate and improve workflows.
• Design ETL pipelines and RESTful APIs/microservices.
• Participate in code/design reviews and mentor peers.
• Troubleshoot data issues and patch root causes.

Job description

Verana Health, a digital health company that delivers quality drug lifecycle and medical practice insights from an exclusive real-world data network, recently secured a $150 million Series E led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) and Novo Growth, the growth-stage investment arm of Novo Holdings.

Existing Verana Health investors GV (formerly Google Ventures), Casdin Capital, and Brook Byers also joined the round, as well as notable new investors, including the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, THVC, and Breyer Capital.

We are driven to create quality real-world data in ophthalmology, neurology, urology, andoncology to accelerate quality insights across the drug lifecycle and within medical practices. Additionally, we are driven to advance the quality of care and quality of life for patients. DRIVE defines our internal purpose and is the galvanizing force that helps ground us in a shared corporate culture. DRIVE is: Diversity, Responsibility, Integrity, Voice-of-Customer and End-Results. Click here to read more about our culture and values.

Why Join Us?

Verana Health is revolutionizing patient care and clinical research by utilizing physician expertise and artificial intelligence to unlock the true potential of real-world data. With exclusive access to the world's largest patient data sources in oncology, ophthalmology, neurology, and urology Verana is powering real-world evidence generation. Clinicians utilize these insights to improve the quality of care and quality of life for patients, and life sciences companies rely on the insights to accelerate the development of new therapies. Verana is backed by industry leaders like Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Novo Growth, GV, Casdin Capital, and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. Join us to bring innovation at scale and improve patient outcomes!

We offer comprehensive benefits that include:

• Market-leading medical, dental, and vision insurance plans
• 401(k) match
• Flexible time off programs
• Paid parental leave
• Annual learning and wellness stipend

More About Verana

• We believe that diverse teams build better products and experiences. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where every employee feels valued, respected, and empowered to do their best work. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship (e.g., H-1B) or OPT/STEM extension support for this position at this time.
• While we are remote friendly, we have a preference for candidates within close commuting proximity to our Bay Area or NYC office hubs.

This is a hybrid role requiring in-person interviews at either our San Francisco, CA or New York City, NY office. Applicants must live within 50 miles of one of these offices. In-office expectations are based on your distance from the office. All remaining days may be worked from home.

*Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.*

Job Title: Senior/Staff/Principal Backend Engineer, Platform & Data Ingestion

Scale Clinical Platforms. Harness Unstructured Data. Advance Oncology Care.

You will report directly to the Senior Director of Engineering and work cross-functionally within Verana Health's Oncology Platform, bridging our Core Engineering and Data Ingestion teams. In this role, you will have end-to-end, hands-on ownership of the high-throughput systems that transform complex, unstructured clinical text into scalable oncology data models.

Why This Role Matters:

This position sits at a critical technical junction, connecting the frontline of Verana’s data ingestion engine with our foundational platform architecture. Within the Oncology Platform, your work directly impacts patient care by dictating how fast and how cleanly raw medical documentation is unlocked and structured to support life‑saving research and improving clinical outcomes.

By scaling OCR pipelines to extract clinical text and optimizing OpenSearch to make data instantly accessible, you will directly expand our core oncology data model. We also encourage thoughtful use of modern AI coding assistants and agentic tools, letting you spend less time on repetitive or basic tasks and more time building out the core architecture.

What You Get to Do:

Verana Health is looking for a driven Senior Backend Engineer who thrives on high-volume data processing, search optimization, and modern software architecture.

• Build and optimize resilient data ingestion pipelines that process high volume streams of clinical data and integrate them into our core oncology platform architecture.
• Own the indexing, querying, and performance tuning of our OpenSearch cluster to ensure fast text and data discovery across our oncology data layers.
• Implement and refine complex OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing workflows to transform raw, unstructured patient timelines into clean, structured data.
• Expand our core oncology data model by maintaining and enhancing microservices that run automated, medically defined quality checks.
• Use AI tools to automate routine setup and boilerplate, keeping your day‑to‑day focus on building robust, high‑impact backend systems.
• Design and implement impactful ETL pipelines and high-performance RESTful APIs/microservices.
• Participate in thorough code and design reviews, and guide technical decisions for system components while mentoring peer engineers.
• Lead the charge in investigating data and quality issues, getting into the weeds of the code to understand why things don't work as expected, and then patching the problem.

Skills and Experience that Will Help You Succeed:

• 4+ years of professional experience building scalable, robust APIs, microservices, and high-volume ETL/ingestion processes.
• Strong professional experience with Functional Programming languages (we primarily use Scala and Elixir) and/or experience in mainstream typed languages (such as Java, C#, or C++).
• Demonstrated experience working with OpenSearch (or Elasticsearch) for complex indexing, alongside exposure to OCR pipelines, document parsing, or natural language text processing.
• 4+ years of experience with data modeling techniques for structured/unstructured datasets, strong SQL coding, and query optimization skills. Proven ability to design for and navigate both transactional (OLTP via Postgres, MySQL, etc.) and analytical (OLAP via Databricks, Snowflake, BigQuery, etc.) data systems.
• Comfort using coding assistants, automated scripts, or agentic tools to streamline your daily development workflow and cut down on repetitive tasks.
• Deep understanding of distributed server-side architectures, reactive principles, and cloud integrations (AWS and/or GCP), including messaging/streaming infrastructure (e.g., Amazon SQS, Kafka, and Google PubSub).
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a proven ability to collaborate cross‑functionally across multiple engineering and product teams.

Bonus Points (Optional):

• Real world experience with libraries within the Scala Typelevel ecosystem such as Cats, Shapeless, Circe, and Doobie among others.
• Willingness to occasionally work with reactive front‑end technologies (TypeScript, Angular, or React) to enhance internal project management user interfaces.
• Prior experience in healthcare technology, clinical data environments, or a deep passion for improving patient outcomes in healthcare.

Salary: $150,000 - $236,000 (A geographic premium may be applied to base salary)

Final note:

You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Verana, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

Pay ranges may vary for market conditions, location, and experience.